


Standing up for Hermione

by mph1473



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hermione Granger & Harry Potter Friendship, Mentions of Rape, Minor Violence, Observant Harry Potter, Ron Weasley Bashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24140293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mph1473/pseuds/mph1473
Summary: Harry witnesses an odd conversation between Hermione and Ron and comes to a realization about his best friends.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 103





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic came from a few sprints on the HMS Harmony Discord Server. This fic isn't technically H/Hr but it's implied and it's more about Harry realizing that their treatment of Hermione hasn't been all that great and he wants to fix it.
> 
> On with the show!

Hermione was walking through the Gryffindor common room with Ron close at her heels.

"Hermione, can you write my transfiguration essay for me?" Ron pleaded with a goofy smile on his face that could charm her into just about anything.

"Oh, alright. But I'm only doing the introduction, the rest you have to do yourself."

"Thanks, Hermione. You are the best." Hermione smiled and sat down on the couch next to Harry who was staring at Hermione like she had sprouted a second head.

"Harry? Why are you staring at me?" Hermione said when she noticed the baffled look on her friend's face.

"You just agreed to write Ron's essay," Harry said with an odd amount of panic in his voice.

"Yeah,"

"Hermione, that's not ok."

"Yeah, well." Hermione shrugged her shoulders and opened her book bag like this was no big deal. Harry looked around and surmised that he would not get a straight answer out of Hermione in the common room. Especially since Ron was sitting there completely unphased.

"Hermione, can you come with me to the library? I want to show you something." Hermione perked up at the mention of the library and smiled at him.

"What do you want to show me?" She said, getting excited at the idea of new information.

"A book I found on defensive magic that Umbridge missed. C'mon, I think you'll like it." Harry held out his hand for her and she happily took it and he led her out of the common room and down a few hallways.

"Harry!" Hermione chastised "This is not the way to the library!"

"I know, and we can go there later but I want to talk to you for a minute." Hermione harrumphed but she let him pull her through the mostly empty halls until they got to the Room of Requirement. Harry paced back in forth three times before a door appeared to reveal almost a replica of the common room they just left.

Hermione smiled at the room Harry conjured and immediately went to the bookshelf to see what was there. "Oh, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed when she pulled her head out of the book she had found. "This is amazing but what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

Harry smiled sadly at his friend, worried that he was close to uncovering something that he didn't want to know. "Why were you ok with doing Ron's homework for him? I remember a little girl who probably would've hexed us through the stratosphere for that, so why did you agree?"

Hermione sighed sadly and sat down next to Harry, still clutching the book that she had found. "That little girl who would've hexed also didn't have any friends Harry," Hermione said pointedly without looking at him.

Harry just looked at Hermione sadly, though he understood exactly what she meant. "When I first came to Hogwarts I thought that things would be different than at my primary school. But I quickly realized that kids don't like it when you can outperform them in school. Then I became friends with you and Ron and when he first asked me to help him with his homework I was glad to help, but he started asking me to do it for him and when I refused he stopped speaking to me for a few weeks."

Harry was gobsmacked at this revelation. "Where was I during all this?"

"Chasing Sirius and Remus around the castle. The incident with the firebolt was thrown in there so you didn't notice when Ron and I had this fight. I decided that doing Ron's homework was a small price to pay for keeping my friends so I did it."

Harry was fuming by this point, "I can't believe he would do that to you. I can't believe that I was involved in this! You are so much better than having to do other's homework to keep your friends, anyone would be lucky to have you. I'm sorry that I didn't stop it." Harry couldn't help but think that Hermione had been pimping out her brain for friendship and he was implicit in the whole mess.

"It's not your fault Harry, you didn't know."

"I should have. I've had you helping me more then I should because I followed Ron's example and became a lazy arse."

"Language, Harry," Hermione argued half-heartedly. No one had stuck up for her this much and she was hesitant to argue over something small in what was becoming a monumental moment in her school career. "You never had me write your papers, and you asked for some help then did your assignments. That's different, you aren't as bad as the others."

Harry was getting a headache as he realized just how badly he had failed his friend by allowing his best mate to take control. "I'm so sorry, and I am going to fix this," Harry said with a determination that concerned Hermione.

Before she could do anything Harry had left the room and was on the way to the common room. Hermione groaned and muttered something about Gryffindors charging into half baked situations as she ran after him.

"Harry!" She yelled once she caught up to him. "What are you doing?"

"I am going to give the red-headed menace a piece of my mind. I should've stopped it in first year but I didn't, and I hope that my extreme delay hasn't damaged our friendship."

"That's not necessary, Harry."

"No, it is. You've stood up for me and stood by me when even Ron thought I was a cheating bastard, so I'm standing up for you like I should've done ever since we first met."

Hermione was quiet for a minute as she trailed after Harry, who was clearly on a mission and forgot that she was shorter than him. "Thank you." Harry whipped around at the quiet admission and saw that Hermione was truly grateful. He pulled her in for a quick hug and impulsively dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

"Anytime, Hermione," Harry said with a sad smile then pulled her the rest of the way to the common room.

As they made their way back to the common room Harry swore that he would treat his best friend with the respect and kindness that she deserved to be treated with and should have been treated with all along.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ron gets his ass kicked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back by popular demand, CHAPTER 2! Ron gets his ass whooped!
> 
> On with the show!

“Ronald Weasley!”

The Gryffindor common room was never quiet but when Harry Potter came charging in yelling at his best friend, the entire house shut up.

Oddly enough it was Hermione Granger that spoke first, “Harry, what are you doing?” In a voice no more than a whisper.

“Making sure you never have to pimp yourself out for friendship ever again,” Harry said forcefully.

“Harry!” Hermione yelped shocked. “Don’t say stuff like that!” She smacked Harry upside the head at the malicious grin that spread over Harry’s face.

The conversation between Harry and Hermione seemed to snap the rest of the Gryffindor’s out of their stupor this caused Ron to come barreling over to the pair. “Hey, guys. What’s got your knickers in a twist, mate?” Ron turned to Hermione before Harry had a chance to answer. “Hermione, do you have time to start my essay tonight? With the DA tomorrow and how anal you are about reading I don’t want you to forget, if I hand in another late essay, McGonagall said she’d take me off the Quidditch team.”

Harry’s face had turned a shade of red that was similar to the Weasley’s hair, but it was Hermione that lost her temper first. “Shut up, Ron!” For the second time in five minutes, the Gryffindor common room came to a grinding halt. “If you want to keep your place on the Quidditch team, do it yourself! I am done being your homework lackey, I am not your parent so it is not my responsibility to make sure you don’t fail out of Hogwarts. I’m done!”

Hermione stormed away, intending to go up to her dorm but Crookshanks stopped her as if sensing that she needed to witness what happened next. So, she picked up the fat orange cat and sank into an empty chair in the corner of the common room. No one noticed Hermione’s placement since they were all too busy watching the showdown that was happening between Harry and Ron. Harry was staring Ron down, clearly waiting for him to speak. “She’s gone completely mental, what did you want to talk to me about mate?”

“Gone mental? Gone mental! Have you lost your bloody mind?”

“What are you on about, mate?”

“Hermione! You’ve been making her do your homework for you for years as if she’s some sort of servant who’s only good to do your schoolwork for you. She is worth more than that, she shouldn’t feel like she needs to do things for us, so we’ll be her friends.”

“But, mate, she’s so annoying. We have nothing in common, she hates anything fun so she might as well be good for something, and that something is homework. I wouldn’t hang around her if I didn’t think she’d be useful. Plus, muggles and muggle-born’s are only good for what they’re useful for.”

Harry had gotten increasingly angry as the red-headed menace spoke. Harry spluttered as he tried to come with something to say. When he finally settled on something it came out frighteningly calm. “Is that all you think of muggle-born’s? What type of service they can provide? For a muggle-born girl, they’re only good for what they can do for wizards, right?”

“Well, yeah,” Ron said flippantly, not realizing that his friendship was about to implode.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Harry was no longer calm, and he was almost reaching hysterical. “Do you think that Lockhart was right to obliviate those women after he assaulted them?” When Lockhart had been pulled from the Chamber of Secrets after Harry killed the basilisk he had been taken to Saint Mungo’s and as they tried to bring back his memories, as they were sorting through his messed up memory they discovered that Lockhart had sexually assaulted then obliviated hundred’s of women. The issue lay in that most had been muggle’s or muggle-born’s so few in the wizarding world cared. They were more worried about figuring out who Lockhart obliviated to steal his stories then they were about the woman he assaulted.

“Oh c’mon, mate. They were just muggles and muggle-born’s. It’s not like they were pure-blood or someone important. You can’t seriously be upset about this.” Ron said hotly.

That was the final straw for Harry, and when Ron so carelessly dismissed people like his mother, and his best friend, Harry snapped. Suddenly Harry swung out and punched Ron square in the nose. The resounding crunch left no doubt about the type of damage it caused. Ron was standing there stunned that Harry would punch him instead of hexing him, but before he could react Harry grabbed him by the collar and shoved him up against the wall. The motion caused Ron’s head to fall back and thump brutally against the wall. Harry got very close to Ron and spoke in a low voice that left everyone shaking in fear. “They were important, muggles and muggle-born’s are as important as you pure-bloods. They’re probably more important because muggle-born’s, half-breeds with muggle parents and people with muggle-born parents are more powerful and useful then you can ever dream to be. The greatest witches in the last two generations were muggle-born’s, one was my best friend and one was my mom. So yeah, I take offence to you treating Hermione like a servant and thinking that muggles are beneath you. I really shouldn’t be surprised though, considering how your mother treats Hermione.” With one last shove against the wall, Harry backed away from a thoroughly beaten Weasley. “We’re through.”

Harry turned and stormed out the common room door, but before it swung all the way shut Harry came charging back into the room and with a quick sweep of the room he walked swiftly over to Hermione and held her hand out for her to take. “I don’t want to leave you behind so would you like to come with me?” Harry looked at Hermione and realized something important, he had burned down his first real friendship, and probably the closest thing he had to family for the girl sitting in front of him. She always stood by his side no matter what death-defying activities he was involved in and because he wasn’t paying attention she had been hurt. Looking at her he decided that he needed her to know that he would stand by her as much as she stood by him and that she would never be hurt again if he could help it. So he plucked up his remaining Gryffindor courage and asked one last question, “And would you do me the honour of going with me to Hogsmeade next weekend?” The common room was shockingly quiet as everyone watched on as Hermione gapped at Harry in shock. “On a date?”

“Well, not right now, but I was hoping that Hogsmeade would be a date,” Harry said with a shy smile. Even after nearly beating his friend to a pulp in her defence and he was still a little unsure of himself.

“I’d love too.” Hermione stood up, throwing Crookshanks to the floor and took Harry’s hand, but before they could leave Ron spoke up.

“You may have your ‘boy-who-lived’ and the money and the fame that comes with being with him, but know that no matter what, you’ll never be as good as us pure-bloods. Muggle-born’s aren’t as good as the rest of us and is just fact.”

“You’re right, Ronald,” Hermione said in a disgustingly sweet voice. Which made Ron puff up like a peacock and Harry looked so confused that she might as well have sprouted another head. “We’re better. It’s because of people like me that the entire wizarding world hasn’t died out yet, check out the muggle world's opinion on genetics, it’ll astound you. We might just drag the world kicking and screaming into the 21st century, and it’ll all be because of us lowly muggle-born’s.”

Harry smirked at Hermione amazed that she was able to bring him down a peg. But, before anything could be done Hermione kneed Ron in the groin. “That was for saying that if I didn’t do as you said, you would turn all of Hogwarts against me.”

Harry smiled and pulled Hermione out of the common room, leaving a broken and thoroughly humiliated Ronald Weasley in their wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's really the end, I hoped you like Ron getting beat up. I apparently took that comment literally. 
> 
> Review if you please!

**Author's Note:**

> There you go. I have a hard time writing Harry Potter fics and I'm hoping that one day I'll knock whatever mental block I have loose and write a long fic for these two who deserve better!
> 
> Review if you please.


End file.
